Mounds of dirt seen in satellite imagery that Ukrainian officials say indicate new mass graves highlighted the savagery of a war that yesterday showed no signs of abating, as Russia pounded targets in eastern Ukraine in a new offensive to take the country’s industrial heartland.
Cities in the Donbas came under Russian fire overnight, and the attacks interfered with attempts to evacuate civilians in one area, a regional official said.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the battle for Mariupol, even though an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian remain holed up at a giant steel mill in the strategic city.
Photo: Reuters
Hours later, Maxar Technologies released new satellite images that it said showed more than 200 graves in a town near Mariupol. In the images, long rows of dirt mounds stretch away from an existing cemetery in Manhush. Local officials accused Russia of burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians in mass graves in an effort to conceal the slaughter taking place in the port city, which has been under siege since the early days of the war.
“The bodies of the dead were being brought by the truckload and actually simply being dumped in mounds,” Piotr Andryushchenko, an aide to Mariupol’s mayor, said on Telegram.
There was no immediate reaction from the Kremlin on the satellite pictures.
Photo: Reuters
Russia yesterday repeated that the “second phase” of the war was under way — but instead of a full-out assault, scattered towns in the east have experienced the intimidating thuds of incoming shells that drive citizens out in panic.
Slovyansk, a city of about 100,000 in eastern Ukraine, came under fire during the night, said Mayor Vadym Lyakh, who said no injuries were reported.
In Rubizhne, Russian fire prevented attempts to bring buses in for civilian evacuation, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said.
More intensive shelling was also heard overnight in Kharkiv, a northeastern city that lies outside of the Donbas, but has been struck repeatedly.
If successful, the campaign in the Donbas would give Putin a vital piece of the country and a badly needed victory to show the Russian people amid the war’s mounting casualties and the economic hardship caused by Western sanctions.
However, analysts say Russian forces have yet to have any major breakthroughs there.
A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessment, said the Ukrainians were hindering the Russian effort to push south from Izyum, which lies outside of the Donbas.
Despite that, a Russian official yesterday repeated that its forces aim to take full control of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Major General Rustam Minnekayev, acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, said such a move would also open the way to Moldova, where Russia backs the breakaway region of Transnistria.
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